


Black Flag

by DarkKnightDan



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Adultery, Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/M, Golden Age of Piracy, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Past Relationship(s), Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-07 02:48:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17357510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkKnightDan/pseuds/DarkKnightDan
Summary: The Golden Age of Piracy is coming to an end. Under the Piracy Accords of the Zootopian government, all ships sailing under a black flag are to be seized, and its Captain and crew put to death. While the pirates who have roamed the seas for decades struggle to cling to their way of life, their self-appointed King oversteps his bounds. A pirate captain by the name of Nicholas Wilde refuses to watch his age end, or watch his people be dominated.





	1. A Golden Age

“Captian, Zootopia’s in sight.” The voice that cut through the chilled night air that had dominated the majority of our time at sea only served to inform me of something that I could see for myself. The lanterns and fires that dotted the mass of land on the horizon spoke of the city that I had not seen in months, the smoke rising from chimneys and small bonfires elsewhere in the city had given away our proximity to the town a short time earlier. 

“Good.” I mused as I leaned my paws against the railing that encircled the stairs leading up to where I was overlooking the deck. “Though, I expect that they’re going to be sending an envoy any minute.” I murmured to myself before instructing two of the men beneath me to bring down our flag, lest we draw any unwanted attention to ourselves. I knew how to deal with Zootopian envoys, but dealing with them with a black flag flying over your ship? That was a different matter entirely. 

I leaned my head back, and closed my eyes, allowing the breeze of the sea to drift through my fur. It felt just as good as it always had, the kiss of the wind, and it whispered of freedom in my ear, even though I might have been sailing directly into one of the few places where my presence might be met with a gun leveled at my face. That is unless a certain envoy was the one to board my ship. I could only hope. 

“Here comes their envoy, Nick.” Finnick murmured, which caused me to open one eye and glance towards the docks. Sure enough, a Zootopian warship was sailing in our direction. That was faster than expected, I mused to myself as I reached down to the holster on my hip, cocking the pistol that had been holstered there ever since I had stepped onto the deck much earlier in the day. I popped my blade out of its sheath as well, ensuring that I wouldn’t have to pull it the full length of the sheath. Even the slightest time advantage could mean life or death; I thought as I stepped towards the stairs. 

“Be ready,” I informed Finnick before I took to the stairs, descending slowly as I watched my men get their weapons ready. Below deck, I could hear other mammals scattering around to prepare the cannons, should push come to really-hard shove. That was, hopefully, not going to be the case. I had come to Zootopia to try and solve a problem, not to get myself into even more trouble. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy a little excitement after a day stuck on the sea, drifting towards the city, but it wasn’t what I needed. 

“Prepare to be boarded!” The call from the Zootopian ship cut through the night, and I stepped up to where they would set their gangplank, putting my paws behind my back as I waited for the Zootopian ship to draw up alongside us. I wanted to see who it was that they had sent to greet us before they managed to get onto my ship. If it were someone that I could talk to, someone that could be negotiated with, then I would let them onto my ship. If not, then I would be able to give my men the quick orders for the cannons. With the Zootopian ship drawn up directly beside us, it would be the easiest shots that we could have. Hopefully, it would disable them for long enough that we could get out of range of their cannons. 

“Hey there.” I greeted with a smile as the ship came up alongside our own. The mammals on the other side of the gap didn’t respond as they threw down the gangplank, and the captain of their ship stepped up to board. The smile that had already formed on my face only grew as my eyes had to travel down until they landed on a familiar face that I hadn’t seen in too long. For a moment, the two of us just stared at each other, before I stepped back, and swept my paw over the deck as though I was inviting her, and her crew, onto my ship. 

“If you don’t want to have trouble getting on, I suggest you hurry up, Carrots.” I teased. The silver-furred doe standing on the other side of the gangplank rolled her eyes and gestured with one paw for her crew to follow as she walked across the improv-bridge. The wood rattled and shook as she crossed along with a small group of wolves, foxes, and other mammals that were small enough not to snap the wood that they walked across to board my ship. 

“No hello?” I asked as she walked in front of me, glancing around the ship as she swept her eyes over my crew, a few of which she recognized from my last visit to the port, no doubt. She didn’t seem to care about that fact, though, because when she turned to face me, she cleared her throat, and I felt my smile slip a little. Nothing ever went well when she cleared her throat. 

“Captain Nicholas Wilde.” She addressed me, lilac eyes boring into me as she removed a roll of parchment from the captain’s uniform that she wore, holding it up for me to see after withdrawing it from the royal blue coat that she wore over the blouse common to officers of the Zootopian Navy. She unrolled the parchment before continuing. “On this day, June 15th, 1815, the Port of Zootopia, in accordance with the Piracy Accords, has called for your imprisonment, and subsequent execution. Should you be found in, or near, Zootopian waters, you are to be captured, and brought to the shore to face justice.” She emphasized the last three words with taps of the paper with the back of her paw. There was a pause then, as she stared at me over the parchment, while I stood like an idiot with my paws behind my back. 

“I uh….forgot about that.” 

“You forgot about it last time, too.” Another moment of silence lingered then before Judy rolled up the parchment that she held, and tucked it back into the pocket of her officer’s coat. “Now, I suggest that you turn around, and get out of here before I start to remember it.” Judy waved towards her ship, which was circling us now before she walked to the edge of the boat. 

“Wait, Carrots.” I stepped forward and was met by a look over Judy’s shoulder that told me not to take another step, which was accentuated by the fact that I heard just about every flintlock that her men carried cock before they were leveled at me. I glanced around as I saw my own men reaching for their weapons, but I held up my paws, both to tell Judy’s crew that I wasn’t going to try anything while signaling for my crew to wait as well. 

“What is it, Nick?” She asked as she turned to face me again, holding her chin up in a way that seemed to suggest that she was above this conversation. Considering she had just agreed to spare my life, again, I suppose that could be forgiven. However, the way that she looked at me spoke of something more than a lack of respect, it spoke of an outright disdain that I hadn’t seen in her before. I made a note to address that later, if possible, right now I had a bigger problem to solve. 

“I need your help,” I said, lowering my paws again when she gestured for her men to lower their guns. She scoffed, which was met by a chorus of snickers by her men. “No, seriously, I need your help, not just you, but anyone who can help me hunt down a pirate.” Judy cocked a brow then, and took a step towards me; her men moved aside as she stepped between them. I wondered how often she’d had to hit them in the shins before they’d learned to avoid getting in her way, despite her size. 

“You need me to help you hunt a pirate.” She said, pointing to herself and then to me for emphasis as she stepped closer and closer to me until she was within arm’s reach. Had this been any other Zootopian Captain, I would have figured that they were about to shoot me, stab me, or possibly both. Since this was Judy, though, I only took it as a passing possibility. I sighed, hearing the words out loud for the first time made it all seem a little stupid, I mused. 

“Yes, I need you to help me. His Highness is getting a little too invasive, taking from his subjects more than we agreed to when we let him have his kingship.” Judy laughed, a sound which normally would have brought a smile to my own features, but now just annoyed me, and caused my teeth to grit. “I’m serious Carrots; this isn’t funny.” 

“You have to admit; it’s pretty funny.” She said, before cocking her head to the side as she looked up into my eyes, emerald meeting lilac again as she tapped her foot on my deck. “After all, around this time last year, didn’t you, I don’t know, sink some of our ships under his orders?” I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. 

“For salt’s sake Judy, I didn’t think this was what was going to come of it. I was just trying to protect myself, and my crew.” I emphasized my point by gesturing around to the twenty-some mammals on deck, many of them had come up from below deck when they’d realized that there wasn’t going to be any need to fire the cannons. There was a heavy tension in the air then, as Judy and I stared each other down, each of us waiting for the other to relent. 

“You can’t expect me to bring you back to land without putting you in shackles,” Judy informed me, seeming to believe that this would deter me. Instead, I thrust my wrists forward, putting them together as I stared her in the eyes, which widened a bit when I put my wrists out to her. She looked from my bare wrists to me, and then back to them. She glanced over her shoulder, at the two closest mammals, and nodded her head towards me. In response, the two that she’d signaled put their rifles over their shoulders and stepped forward to grab me by the arms. 

“Nicholas Wilde, you are under arrest under the Piracy Accords, and your vessel is at this moment seized by the Zootopian Navy.” Judy though her tone said that she was still dazed by the fact that I had done this so willingly. I glanced to make sure that Finnick hadn’t moved from his place at the wheel, where he still stood, leaning against the railing with an annoyed expression painting his features. 

“Yeah yeah, good show.” I murmured as I glanced at the two mammals on either side of me, who tightened their grip in response. I should have figured that I wouldn’t recognize them. After all, many of the men that I would recognize in the Zootopian Navy had been standing on the deck before the envoy ship had entered our sight. “Now, can we please get a move on,” I said, pointing towards the port with both paws. “So that I can get out of your hair, for good?” Judy sighed and again gestured for her ship to come back around as the rest of her crew went about gathering my crew as they seized my vessel. 

“Last time you said you were going to get out of my hair for good, you showed up the next week.” Judy reminded me, and I shrugged. 

“Couldn’t stay away.”


	2. A Backup Plan?

The brig of a Zootopian ship looked just like I remembered it. The rusting iron bars, the guards with their rifles, the angry gaze of Judy on the other side of the bars as I leaned against them, my hands shackled on the other side to keep me from reaching for the pistols that they had left on my person. It would be a stupid move on anyone else, but I guess Carrots knew who she was dealing with, to the point that she forgot about my criminal nature. 

“You can leave,” Judy turned to glance over her shoulder at the guards as she spoke. “If I need you, I’ll call. Let me know when we’re getting close to shore.” The two mammals that had been standing there saluted before walking out of the brig, the wooden door that separated it from the rest of the ship closing with a clattering bang when they walked through it. With that, Judy turned to face me again, looking up at me since I was unable to crouch down to her level with my current restraint. 

“So, how’s Gideon?” 

“You know, we don’t need to be talking about that right now.” Judy crossed her arms across her chest with a huff as she answered my question. Oh, that stung. I offered a hint of a smile as I shrugged, both paws tilted up as a “had to try” sort of gesture. “What we do need to talk about, is how I am going to get you to Captain Bogo without him having you hung on the spot.” 

“I’m all ears.” I leaned further against the bars, trying to look as casual as I could despite the fact that my wrists were chained around a cross-section of the bars below where I would typically place them. That hadn’t been on Judy’s order, but I suspected that she got some sort of satisfaction of seeing me in an uncomfortable situation. Usually, she was fine with letting me go free after putting me in said situation, though. This time, I wasn’t so sure about my chances. 

“Firstly, you’re going to need to let me take all of your weapons.” Judy reached up, through the bars, and drew two of my pistols out of their holsters, before setting them down on the bench behind her. She turned back, withdrew the other two, and put them next to the others. “Besides your sword, what else do you have on you?” She grabbed the hilt of my sword and pulled it out as far as she could, before I caught it as well as I could with my shackled paw, helping her the rest of the way. 

“Nothing.” Judy cast me a suspicious glare when I said that, which only caused me to sigh as I lifted my foot out of the boot that had covered it moments ago. I pushed it up against the bar to raise the leg of the pants I wore, revealing a dagger that was tied against the calf of my leg. Judy rolled her eyes and reached down when I didn’t move any further. She grabbed the blade and threw it to join my sword on the bench.

“Hey, careful with that, someone special gave it to me.” I teased, and Judy rolled her eyes as she ordered me to roll up my other pant leg in the same fashion. I did so, and when she saw that there wasn’t another dagger concealed there, she seemed to be satisfied that I wasn’t hiding any more weapons from her. Which I wasn’t, not that she needed to know about, anyway. 

“Alright, now that you are not armed to the teeth, I’ll present you to Captain Bogo, and you are going to tell him that you turned yourself in.” 

“You know that he’ll never buy that.” Judy rolled her eyes at the reminder that I offered, and she crossed her arms over her chest again. 

“Well, if you would let me finish, you would know that I was getting to that, now be quiet.” Her words dripped with annoyance, the fact of which wasn’t helped by the glare that she still shot me. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why it was that she was so angry. After all, I thought we had ended our last rendezvous on good terms. There had maybe been a little too much flirting on my part, but overall I remembered her ‘chasing me out of the harbor’ being all in good fun until I’d outrun this tub that she called a vessel.

“Because you would never, ever, turn yourself in, Bogo will know that something is wrong. I can’t guarantee that he won’t have you hanged, but it’s the best shot that you’ve got.” I sighed as I crouched down, my paws now above my head as I looked into Judy’s eyes through the bars. 

“I like the plan, but what’s the backup plan in case buffalo but doesn’t try and listen to me? Because I’m not exactly keen on swinging from a rope this morning.” Judy looked into my eyes and then shrugged. She put her paws on her hips for a moment as a tiny smirk crept onto her features. 

“Are you telling me that you didn’t come here with a backup plan? You just knew that I wouldn’t shoot you on sight?” The teasing tone in her voice reminded me of better times when I wasn’t in the brig of her ship. Times when the sun had caught in her fur, when she’d leaned out over the Captain’s perch of the ship, grinning when the wind blew through her coat. That seemed like it was so long ago, though. But it was the reason that I knew she wouldn’t kill me. 

“You haven’t any time that you’ve seen me in the past five years, why would you start now?” I idly scratched at the bars of the cell that I crouched in, locking eyes with Judy when she looked up to meet my gaze again. 

“Because things have changed, Nick.” She said in a tone barely above a whisper. The teasing hint in her voice had disappeared just as quickly as it had come, snatched away like a piece of paper in the wind of the sea. She glanced away again and sighed before she looked down at the floor and shook her head. “Even if you do get out of this alive, I cannot let you go if I see you again.” I cocked a brow at that statement. 

“Oh? What’s changed so much that you’ve suddenly had a change of heart about letting me go? Was it because I outran you when I was leaving the harbor last time? Because I can let you put up a better chase if that’s what you want.” Judy didn’t laugh at the joke, didn’t even offer the tiniest smile. She just continued to stare at the floor, before she shook her head again. 

“It’s not that Nick….it’s…complicated.” She sighed and ran a paw over her head, smoothing her ears back before they sprung back up a bit. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, clearly debating on telling me what it was that made her so adamant about capturing me, should I escape the tangle I had currently found myself. 

“It doesn’t matter.” I guess she had reached the conclusion of her internal debate because she locked eyes with me when she spoke those words, and gone was the hint of affection that had lingered in them in all of our previous meetings, even when she’d charged me with piracy the first time when her eyes had been alight with the flames of anger and betrayal, that affection had still lingered there. “Because I don’t think Bogo is going to let you walk, even if you do convince him to go after your King.” Judy shook her head again and started to walk away before I asked her to wait. 

She turned and met my eyes again. We both stood there, stock still as silence settled over the room. The distant sound of her crew working at their stations as they brought us into port was the only thing that filled the cabin as I searched for the words that I wanted to stay. For once, my silver tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth as I tried to figure out what to say. 

“You know that none of this is because of you, right?” I asked, and Judy scoffed. She shook her head as she kept walking towards the door. 

“I know that it’s always been about me.” She said, taking one last look over her shoulder before she shut the door behind her, leaving me alone in the brig. I sighed as I leaned my head against the bars, biting my lip as I tapped my foot in annoyance. Maybe that hadn’t been the right choice of words, I mused to myself. After all, it had always been about her. The look on her face when she had spoken about sailing the open seas, exploring unknown places, far away from Zootopia; that’s how it had all started before everything had spiraled out of control faster than a flock of birds in a hurricane. 

It wasn’t long before Judy’s crew came to get me from the brig. A pair of bears led the way, followed by two wolves. The bears unshackled me before pulling open the door of the cell. The wolves kept pistols trained at me while the bears put the shackles back on my wrists, and grabbed me by the arms. 

“No need to be so rough.” I murmured as the two bears pulled me out of the cell. They pushed me forward, practically dragging me off my feet as they led me up to the main deck of the ship, where Judy was waiting. She was flanked by more of her crew, all of them holding rifles and pistols as I was led up to her. The bears let go of my arms, and Judy tilted her chin up to look into my eyes.

“We are going to let you walk. If you try to run, if you try to resist what happens, my men will shoot you without hesitation.” Judy’s tone reflected one that I had heard so many times before because it was my own. I had to smile to myself as I realized even her stance reflected my own stature when giving orders. 

“Aye, aye, Captain,” I said with a smirk, raising my paws to offer her a salute, though it was difficult considering both paws were still shackled together. When I put them down, Judy shook her head in annoyance and started towards the gangplank. Two of her crew shoved me forward, letting me walk behind her. I went without issue, stepping down the gangway as I looked towards the town, looking around the docks as well. 

Things looked different than the last time I had been here, since I had last actually paid attention, of course. There were more warships, along with more merchant ships than I had ever seen in the Zootopian port. I smirked to myself as I glanced at the back of Judy’s head, still walking behind her. 

“Gideon’s doing well I take it?” I asked and nodded towards one of the trade ships. Judy didn’t offer any sort of response, only continued to walk down the dock, towards the town proper. Mammals that were still out stared as we passed, while some mothers grabbed their children when they caught sight of me, pulling them into homes and buildings as we passed through the town, heading towards the Naval office in the center of the city. 

Standing in the gate to the Naval office, arms crossed over his chest, flanked by too many men for me to begin to think of outrunning, was Captain Bogo. When his eyes fell on me, a wicked smile broke his usual stone-set features. When that happened, I knew that I probably didn’t have a chance here. The last time that I had seen Bogo give someone that smile, the man was hanging from the end of a rope not minutes later. 

Now, I had seconds to figure out how to avoid being hanged.


	3. You Should Know

“Captain Grey.” I had never heard Bogo sound so pleased in all of the time that I had known him, but I guess I understood why. After all, he had always hated me, even when we hadn’t been on opposite sides of the law. “I see that you’ve finally apprehended our rogue.” His eyes went from Judy to me then, and if I hadn’t been able to hear the hatred he had for me in his tone, I would have been able to see it in his eyes then. It was like someone had lit a lantern behind them, the way they burned when he looked at me. 

I suddenly felt very, very afraid. Whatever chances I thought I had of convincing Bogo to work with me immediately seemed to dissipate. I glanced around quickly, searching for a way out of this. When I realized that there wasn’t one, I turned my eyes back to Bogo and offered him up one of my trademark smiles. 

“You know that you missed me.” I offered, which caused him to visibly jolt as he seemed to try and keep from laughing. I glanced down at where Judy stood in front of me, only to see that she had crossed her arms over her chest where she stood like she was just waiting for the order to kill me. I wouldn’t be surprised, I reasoned to myself, but I also hoped that wasn’t the case. Maybe she was just playing tough, I had seen her do that before, but at the same time, I doubted that was the case. 

“Oh yes, I missed you Wild. I missed not seeing your neck in a noose.” Bogo emphasized his words by pointing directly at my neck through the boiling anger in his tone, which I knew wasn’t going to be held at bay for much longer. I raised my hands in a defensive gesture, despite them being cuffed, and offered up another attempt at a smile. Before I could say anything, though, Judy stepped forward between us. '

“With all due respect, sir, I didn’t bring Wilde here so that you could vent about him. Frankly, there’s a more pressing matter at hand.” Judy turned to look at me and then stepped to the side so that she could keep both Bogo and me in view as she addressed her superior. “Captain Wilde,” she gestured to me, as though it was unclear as to who she was referring to, even with me being the only man with that name within a few hundred miles and above the waves. 

“Captain Wilde,” she continued after a pause, “would like to give us information regarding the King of the Pirates. In exchange for his information, he requests that we clear him of the charges of piracy leveled against him.” Bogo scoffed as he stepped forward, breaking the line of men that he had been standing in as he closed the distance between him, myself, and Judy until we were all standing within arm’s length of each other. 

“And why should I believe that what he says is genuine?” Bogo asked as he bent down ever so slightly to look me in the eyes, staring into them as I looked back. “Last I checked, this man is a deserter, a traitor to the crown. Even if the charges of piracy are lifted, he still had that to face.” I felt my tail dip behind me a bit at that reminder, considering I hadn’t thought about the fact that I was a deserter in years. After all, I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I had two reasons to go to the noose. 

“That’s exactly why you should trust what he says,” Judy explained this as she crossed her arms over her chest again, looking up at Bogo as she did so. “Considering that he’s facing the noose, either way, he has no reason to lie to you. So, considering that, I believe we should hear him out. Even then, he is reserved a trial for the charges of desertion.” Judy explained this all in a tone that reminded me why she had been able to climb the ranks of the Navy faster than anyone I had known. She always knew how to keep her cool in these kinds of situation, talk her way through things. I beamed with the slightest hint of pride when I thought to myself about who had taught her that. 

Bogo looked between Judy and I before he stepped back a bit, eyes boring down into Judy as he did so. “Don’t act like I don’t know what you’re doing Grey.” He said through gritted teeth. Even though Judy was right, I could tell that this was one of those situations when Bogo was trying so hard to resist his desire to break the rules and just kill me then and there. But he didn’t, instead of ordering his men to arrest me, and take me to a cell. He ordered that I be put under guard until he was ready to speak to me. Before I was carted off, he additionally ordered that Judy was not allowed to speak to me before he did. 

I glanced at Judy, who didn’t seem to care about the fact that we were being separated, which meant that there was no way that she could fill me in on what exactly she had planned before I met with Bogo. That meant I was all on my own when it came to negotiations; it meant that I had no clue what she was willing to bargain with, and what she wasn’t willing to have me say when it came to what he would talk to her about later. 

For a second, I started to panic, until I realized who I was. I cursed the fact that even just being around Judy was causing me to slip back into my own tendencies, something that I emphasized by casting her a glare as Bogo’s men came forward to grab me. They picked me up under the arms again and dragged me towards the back of the main building, where the cells were. 

Once I was secured there, I sighed as I put my head against the bars. 

“You better have a good plan carrots.”   
***  
“So, he just came without a fight?” I stopped pacing the floor of the office for a second, before I glanced over to where Bogo was sitting, an annoyed scowl on his face as he sat there, gripping the desk so hard that I thought he might break it. It wouldn’t be the first time, so I was just waiting for it, more or less. 

“He handed me his guns and his sword. If he wanted to escape, he did an abysmal job of it.” I affirmed as I leaned against one of the many bookcases that dotted the walls of the office that Bogo and I had shared for the past handful of months. “As much as I don’t trust him, he had every opportunity to do shoot me, or sink my ship, or run. Considering he did none of those things, I think that he’s honest about wanting to help us bring down the King.” I mulled this over as I absent-mindedly spun the small globe resting on one of the bookshelves. 

“So I go down and talk to him in the next few minutes, and then I have him hung as a traitor to the crown, and you won’t be opposed to that?” There was a challenge in that question and one that I wasn’t about to take sitting down. I turned to face Bogo, resting my hand on the pommel of my sword as I did so, a stance that I had adopted from watching both him and Nick throughout my time with the Navy. 

“As a man who faithfully served the crown since his childhood, I believe he deserves a trial.” I started as I stepped toward Bogo, leaving my hand on my sword as I stepped towards him. “Now, if you give him a trial, and you find him guilty of desertion, then you can hang him. However, I must caution you.” I went to stand in front of Bogo as I looked up at him. 

“He is not the kind of man to give up information easily. He’s going to bargain with you, try and find a way out of this situation. Now,” I turned away, and started to pace the floor again. “we also have this issue of confronting his King.” I said as I paced to the other side of the room. “Considering the man is likely to have a diverse crew, we may have to deal with things that we haven’t seen in combat.” 

“Does this speech have a point, Grey?” Bogo questioned from where he sat, and I turned on my heel to face him once more, crossing my arms behind my back as I stood there at rest. I cocked my head to the side as I looked into his piercing gaze. 

“It does, in fact. Wilde has plenty of experience with the King and, by extension, should have experience with all of the pirate groups that are under his domain.”   
“So?” 

“So, we are going to need him if we are going to take down the other captains that are under the King. He probably knows where they are, where they’re likely to go, and how they fight. You and I both know that there are things that we cannot combat. He.” I pointed out the window, towards where the cells were, “was one of those things. If he hadn’t intended to come quietly tonight, I have no doubt that my ship would be at the bottom of the harbor.” Bogo scoffed as he stood from where he had been sitting, towering over both the desk and myself as he looked down at me. 

“I will not accept the help of a pirate.” He spoke through gritted teeth, eyes burning in fury as he seemed to resist the urge to raise his voice at me, considering that we were supposed to show each other an equal amount of respect, despite the difference in our time of service. I shrugged and leaned against the desk once more as I looked up at him. 

“Well, sir, the way I see it is like this. If we kill Wilde now, then you are not going to get a shot at the King, and we are going to have to deal with more and more pirates that we don’t know how to deal with, the more that the King gets under his domain.” I drummed my fingers against the desk as I waited, allowing that statement to sink in for a moment. 

“Or, we take Wilde along with us while we hunt down the other captains, hunt down the King. If he somehow manages to get through that alive, which I think he won’t, then we have the perfect opportunity to take care of him without a trial. You can shoot Wilde in the back for all I care and claim that he died in a skirmish. We both get what we want, and we are rid of the pirates that have been plaguing us for years.” Bogo seemed to consider this before a small smirk broke his lips. 

“As much as he rubbed off on you, I would think that you would be more opposed to me killing him outright.” I felt a tightness in my chest then as a knot formed in my throat. My fingers curled into a fist on one hand as I fought to keep the emotion from being displayed on my face. The last thing that I wanted is to break my composure in front of Bogo, considering that’s exactly what he was looking for with comments like that. 

“As much as he rubbed off on me, you should know that I have no problem stabbing people in the back,” I said before leaning back from the desk and walking away. “I’m going home for the night, have someone else take the watch. Send a messenger when you have everything figured out with Wilde.” I shut the door to the office behind me with a slam, sighing as I bit my lip for a moment. 

It wasn’t the best plan, but it was one that would keep him safe, for now.


End file.
